I like all the ones I have. They are bigger than the stated sizes given much like DA roses. They are disease resistant, even planted next to roses that will get diseases first in a stretch of bad weather. They look the best in spring but give some decent flushes after that. I really like Lion's rose the way it blooms all year and changes from a pretty ivory yellow to white. I got this as a band and for the longest time, mistook it for one of my minis! Finally in the ground, it grew roots and started sending up big fat canes with huge flowers on the ends. The nasty spring wind could not blow the flowers off when all my DAs were blown to bits. I love the shape on Pomponella.

These roses take space. I haven't tried to keep mine small.
I think they need a few years of growth to settle in and be spectacular plants.

They sound very sturdy and disease-resistant, but I wonder if they would look too modern with those heavy canes and big flowers. I remember Pomponella looking very pretty when someone posted it here or on the regular rose forum. I'll have to look up a few varieties on HMF. Thanks much for the info, Kitty.

Ingrid

I like 'Eureka' very much. Good repeat, compact size, superior rust resistance. Not much fragrance is the flaw. 'Lion's Fairy Tail' gets 12' canes with a cluster of flowers at the end. Very disappointing in that respect. Superior rust resistance, but I don't need a 12' floribunda.

'Laguna' has a stellar spring flush and just about nothing after that. So, 1 for 3.

We must remember 'Iceberg' is a Kordes, the best rose of all.

hoovb, thank you for somewhat quelling this new enthusiasm of mine for yet another type of rose I have no room for. I share your enthusiasm for Iceberg, although the Burgundy Iceberg that's been a stellar rose for some years has in the last two years had an increasingly bad case of black spot, even on the new leaves, and is now leaving me. Since No. 92 Nanjing, one of Vintage's French import teas will be its replacement, I'm going to look at it as one of those things that was meant to be.

Ingrid

Take a look at Jasmina, Ingrid. It grows like a rambling polyantha, with clusters of many soft lilac pink blooms on a very lax and floriferous rose. A real sweetie which may chime rather well in your garden (those soft blue-greys which dominate the area).
Grows well with some support - I use a large tripod timber with cross bracings and let the rose tumble over the top and between the horizontal cross-pieces - an enthusiastic repeater too. Cinderella has the many-petalled blooms you like but has a bit of a generic candy pink tone while Pomponella may get rather huge and has a peculiar (but I like it) raspberry colour to the very incurved blooms. Here in blackspot heaven, many of the Kordes roses have remained unbelievably healthy and spotless.

campanula, thank you kindly for the suggestions. I actually did have Jasmina some years ago and ended up giving it away because it couldn't stand my heat. I saw a mature specimen on a large structure on a garden visit, but the color wasn't nearly as beautiful as in the picture from the on-line nursery where I bought it, which leads me to believe that dry heat is not its favorite thing.

I know by now beyond any doubt that teas, chinas, polyanthas, small Bourbons and a few Austins are what I should be concentrating on, but of course the grass is always greener on the other side, and surely there must be some (mythical) roses that will transform my garden. Pretty silly for someone who lives where grass will not grow on either side, isn't it? I think I'm having a malcontent day since we were promised rain and instead we've had days of drying winds. Considering the horribly cold weather in the east I should have my hand slapped for complaining about that too. I do hope you have adequate heating in your horse box, if that's where you're hanging out right now.

Ingrid

We have been trying a number of Kordes products over the last few years in our warm and dry garden in the eastern edge of the San Joaquin Valley. We are quite pleased with the performance of a number of products in the Fairy Tale Series. We were able to obtain a one gallon pot of "Golden Fairy Tale' from Chamblees that had 3 rooted cuttings in it. We separated the cuttings and now have 3 plants that are around 3 feet high and across so far after 2 years. The flowers are borne in clusters at the ends of branches and are around 3-4 inches across.

We are pleased with our grafted specimen of 'Floral Fairy Tale' from Pickering, which is a growing as a compact plant so far. The flowers are around 3 inches across and are an appealing shade of pale orange/apricot.

We also have a grafted specimen of 'Cinderella Fairy Tale' which throwing out canes up to 5 feet in all directions-similar to what we see some of the more vigorous Austins do in our climate. We had to move it out of a bed of more mannerly pink and white roses to a spot near out cherry and persimmon orchard, where it has more room.

We have 3 own root plants (Chamblees) of ' Lion's Fairy Tale; this rose has nice flowers but grows like a hybrid tea for us-thick canes growing up from the crown with less branching than the others. When it hit 5 feet tall, we transplanted them to a more suitable location with other hybrid teas.

Last year we planted a grafted specimen of 'Brothers Grimm Fairy Tale' and are quite pleased with the flowers, up to 4 inches across-not quite sure about the ultimate growth habit yet. We have ordered "Elegant Fairy Tale which should arrive in the next few weeks.

Most of these have dark green leaves that look waxy and are quite disease-resistant . I think that you would find the growth habit of all but LFT to be less 'modern looking' for your country garden. We are less satisfied with CFT because of its rapant growth habit but we will see what we can do with it in its new location.

We are also growing a few in the 'Veranda' Series. We planted 3 own root 'Cream Verandas' 3 years ago. It took them a bit longer for the plants to size up. The flowers are larger in Spring/Fall-around 3-3.5 inches; in summer 2-2.5 inches. The canes grow at an angle and make nice mounds-around 2 feet tall by 3 feet across. We planted these in mixed perennial bed and they look great. The foliage is dark green, waxy, and disease free. The repeat is a bit slower than others but the flowers seem to last longer than many other roses.

We liked these so much that we got 'Solero' and 'Brilliant Veranda', which we have recently transplanted into a mixed perennial bed-irises and asters. They have been producing many new blloms over the past month or so. 'Brilliant Veranda' is a bright orange red and now have more petals and are larger than we were expecting. 'Solero' is an appealing pale yellow with exquisite form.

We planted climbers 'Laguna' and 'Jasmina' 3 years ago in a remote part of property. The ground squirrels and gophers took out Laguna. Jasmina has grown into large shrub 5 feet high and 8 feet across. Both of these are very thorny; flowers are small (2-3 inches across) and perhaps only 2 bloom cycles per year. Very disease-resistant foliage. I would not recommend these 2 base on their performance here.

I heard a radio clip about Kordes roses in which somone claimed that Kordes was the largest rose company in the world, in that they test around 1 million new seedlings from breeding crosses, more than any other company. A rose is not released until it has gone through extensive trialing (around 5 years) in test areas that are not sprayed with pesticides. It is not an accident that this company has a reputation for releasing products that are very disease-resistant. And since they are testing their experimental in their cold climate, they also are very cold-tolerant. And just because they are very cold tolerant, it does not mean that they will not perform well in our much warmer climate.

John, thank you so much for your very detailed discussion of your experience with the Kordes roses. I've been eying Cream Veranda on the Chamblee's site for the last two years, and Solero also sounds interesting. I would think that thick, waxy-looking leaves would hold up very well in a hot climate, and might be a good defense against disease.

Ingrid

Ingrid, maybe they will hold against sunburn as well. This was the first year I had sunburnt leaves but not on any of my Kordes roses.

If you need a red, don't forget that old tried but true Kordes floribunda called Eutin. Has a bit of hybrid musk in its background, which probably accounts for its big clusters of blooms. Red--about the shade of Double Knock Out but not quite so "hot" -- maybe a tad darker--in other words, not quite so "modern" looking. Good disease-resistance--was promoted at times back in the 1950s and 60s as the Knock Out rose of that generation (although they obviously would not have known what a Knock Out rose would be). LOL

I grow at least one (3 at the moment) in every garden I've ever had.

Kate

Kate, I've heard how good this rose is but unfortunately the color, next to orange, that I most dislike in roses is red, and it's also too strong a color against the background of the hills. There is a pink sport, Pink Eutin, which Vintage carried, which looks very attractive. If it turns up somewhere else it's a plant I would definitely consider buying.

Ingrid

Pink Eutin is new to me--just looked it up. Its clusters and color remind me a bit of Pomponella, though I doubt if it will get as large and gangly as Pomponella can.

If it shares all the other qualities of Eutin, Pink Eutin ought to be a good choice.

Kate

For reference, check out this video of rose varieties including many of the Kordes roses mentioned above: Roses

Above are Kordes Newflora, of course, not my new garden. I know that caption is wrong, it is just in my folder to load the picture.

Beautiful! Do you know what roses are in the photos? Thanks for posting them. I'm hoping the Kordes roses I ordered, Quick Silver and Lavender Veranda will do well in Southern California heat.

Jasminerose, They did have some labeled, but it was such a mob scene I just tried to take a few photos that weren't full of people. I thought the roses looked amazing after that week of extreme heat. Last summer was also very hot with 21 days 100 F and over here. I noticed great looking Florentina and Amadeus. Many other gorgeous named lighter colored roses were also evident. I can see they are making great strides. When I went to Rosarie d la Hay in Paris, I took a photo of the name tag, then the plant, which would have been better here too. I hope yours do great.

I understand that Kordes/Newflora are marketing in the States some of the heat tolerant Kordes roses originally destined for the South African market which are not being marketed in Europe (because to most European growers the European market does not need heat and draught tolerant roses since Europe ends north of the Alps...).

I wonder if you would like Poseidon. It is a soft lavender that repeats well in our summer heat when a lot of roses shut down. Of course we are in a humid heat so not sure how it would do in your more intense climate. Poseidon does stay bs free here. I dont spray either. The leaves are not as stiff and shiny as some other Kordes. It will get large but it doesnt just bloom on tips like some other roses do. Repeat is good. I am trying to train mine as a climber here even though its not labeled as such. Its in a pot because its on its own roots (nematodes). The only drawback is the fragrance is a light rose scent.

Thanks, Sheila. You did great. Good info Nik and SJN. I'm sure I would love Poseidon. Lavender is my favorite color. It seems that roses with only a light scent do better than roses with a strong fragrance. As long as it doesn't lack fragrance all together, I'm happy. I hope Quick Silver has those shiny Kordes leaves.

Poseidon / Novalis fries in my dry summer heat, when it produces small blooms. It is also very sensitive to rain in spring and autumn when it produces large blooms. It is also scentless to my nose. It stays healthy from our main fungal affliction which is PM.

Based on Nik's comment on Poseidon, I ordered Plum Perfect instead. It's a Kordes Sunbelt rose, so hopefully it will do well in the heat. I asked Northland Rosarium to wait until fall before shipping it to me. Sheila, I also ordered Florentina.

I love my Florentina, Jasminerose. Mine is grafted on Multiflora from Palatine and is doing great with beautiful blooms and flawless healthy foliage. I think Northland own root might be better if that is possible. I hope mine goes own root and lives longer like own root are supposed to.

I'm glad to hear it's doing well for you. It will be in a spot in my garden that gets morning shade and hot afternoon sun. I know roses prefer it the other way around, but since Florentina has those tough, shiny Kordes leaves, I'm hoping it will do well.

Ingrid, did you end up trying any Kordes roses?

I've been impressed with the Kordes roses I have. Jasmina is particularly pretty but they are all so disease free.

I have several Kordes. Planted them as 1 gallon own root plants I think in May. Yes, I know, the biggest mistake. Lesson learned. Savannah, I had big hopes for her as she belongs to Sunbelt roses, she is dead by now. But was hanging there without leaves for a long time. I covered her, but nothing helped. Fiji was amazing first month even bloomed. Then something happened, maybe heat :) and now leaves are fried too much. Or maybe it is something else. New growth came green and then got some black on it. Covered as well. But I think this rose will stay through this summer. No fragrance though... Golden Fairy Tale was great. Gave some blooms that smelled nice. Stood through heat pretty good. Didn't loose any leaves. And they looked healthy. Then rain happened and I guess I overwatered it. But looks like it's coming back. And another Kordes is Zaide. Was sick after planting into the ground. Then got over that and had even one bloom. Smelled nice. Now it is still looking really good. Old leaves have dry ends but not that it's loosing them at all. So I guess some of Kordes will tolerate our heat and dryness. To some extend of course. Here are some pics.

And these are blooms of them

Best wishes for your roses, Natasha. I learned the same lesson, losing four roses. Fall planting is definitely the way to go. Too bad about Savannah. It might be worth trying again at the right time.

Thank you, jasminerose4u, maybe one day I will try Savannah again. Right now I'm planning on buying couple of OGRs... They have what I want: nice looking bush, beautiful flowers and fragrance. Yes. Fragrance is so important for me. I kept sticking my nose in Fiji while he was blooming refusing to believe he didn't have any fragrance to me))

Natasha,

May I suggest that the roses pictured above are suffering not so much from the heat but from lack of rain water in combination with what I can only guess is soil full of salts (Calcium carbonate in very alkaline soil? It certainly looks like it). As I see you are watering using soaker hoses with what I can guess may be hard water, may I suggest that you flood and saturate the root areas every once in a while in an attempt to leach some of the salts below the rootzone? Organic ammendment (and coarse ground sulfur in the case your soil does have too much calcium carbonate) will help. If the soil is also sodic (i.e. it suffers from a buildup of sodium ions) then agricultural gypsum may also help but only in that case.

Thank you, Nikthegreek :) I'm open for suggestions to help my roses look their best. We do have alkaline soil here and terrible tap water which I heard is also alkaline... So with lack of rains we don't have win situation at all. I need to give them another portion of coffee grounds... And once the weather is cools down I will add some sulfur as well... Flooding the roots to get rid of that soil... with our terrible tap water, not sure what I can do with that... Not enough rain... Basically no rain during summer... Even our monsoon season is quite dry this year... The only other resource of water that I have is the water from air conditioning that comes out of the pipes... But I'm afraid to use that water for my plants... not sure if it is safe :)